Life is getting back to it’s normal routine after vacation. Mails have been piling up and some sorting needed to be done. Amidst all the junk and commercial mail we encountered a message from a certain Nigerian prince indicating we are his only relatives and we can inherit a fortune if only we give our bank-details…wow :)

First reaction was one of amazement: that mail is still doing the rounds? That felt rather comforting, almost like meeting an old acquaintance, like somethings never die and the internet, despite it’s fleeting character, has some consistency to it. Next conclusion: wow, they must’ve finally ran out of e-mail-addies and doing the rounds again in case they missed some the first time around :)

With this mail and the following S. Adams quote (yeah the Dilbert guy :) ) we came to the conclusion that we have gotten some pretty bizarre requests during the years and thought we might share some gems with you. We shall call this category:

I get mail; therefore I am. (S.Adams)

Here are a few questions received by David:

“I have a loose idea: essentially I want you to paint me violated.” We respectfully declined this one.

“She should look like she is in agony, not having an orgasm.” Alterations to the piece were made. Up to this day we still cannot see what the client saw :)

“If you paint it in gray-scale, I can colour it in later.”

And here a few from the canvas scene as reported by Natasja:

“If you paint on paper and use watercolour, instead of oil on canvas. Will it cost less?” No, it is the amount of time spent that makes up the lion-part of the cost of a painting, not so much the materials.

“Does it have to be this yellow?” (Was a desert scene, oil-painting photo referenced)

“Do you paint nudes and can I pose? Photo’s do not do me justice.” Person was slightly to eager and overzealous to pose nude. Received naked images for quite a while there, each one captioned “this does not do me justice.” :) Eventually no portrait was made due to clients financial situation.

Now these are just 0.01% of the mails we have received over the years as a studio. It is however remarkable how much more educated our clientele has become, the majority of our customers whether private or corporate are very clear and professional. Most communication really helps us in furthering our artwork. Of course we have grown into this as well, but recently we have not received odd requests and comments. But who knows, perhaps like the Nigerian Prince they will reoccur once and a while.

More details will follow, this is just an initial concept. Loads of concepts in the pipeline atm.

And number two we can share is the initial sketch for our Ars Scribendi contest winner (yay!) When this piece is finished we will dedicate an entire post to it. So stay tuned.

For our private customers, last week we had no takers for our discount commissions (mostly due to our vacation° so the last two discount slots are still open. They will vanish after this week, so be fast or they be gone :)

First of all: One week left on our contest Ars Scribendi! We have some smashing entries already, so if you think you have what it takes to win: One week left! Final entries need to be in at midnight GMT August 1st 2014. May the muses kick-start the overdrive of your imagination and provide you with ample flow in your pen.

And fevers or not, the show that contains no clowns needs to continue. We have some goodies to show you.

The first is a work in progress and a source of both frustration and inspiration. It gives an idea on how concepts can evolve over time.

During a dull moment the challenge was uttered: Why not paint a Centaur fighting a Minotaur, it’ll be fun and different she said :)

These three versions give an indication on how much a concept changes, and in it’s current form it is still being tweaked. The first one is the version from 2008/2009, the last ones are a new edition from 2013-2014. It is in an in between project, when commissions are leaving you with a space.

And those following David on Facebook, will have seen mentions about a super secret project pass by. The following bit is NOT it (a rotten thing to do, but keep checking out this blog and all shall be revealed :) )

Currently we have a remake of the known Sanguinius painting in the pipeline. The first piece, known and epic, took about 55 hours to complete. The pose is epic, but not really dynamic so the sketch is slowly being transformed into a painting. The rough colourcomp is done here, but still loads of tweaking to do.

The video shows you how the details on the shoulderpad were created, Händel our good friend will keep you company.

Yes, I return to dispell some orkiness from the blog and bring you a new update.

As summer rages on, the studio finds itself at a good pace. Commercial work, as well as commissions, are coming in and are being completed at a steady pace.

If you are following our Facebook Page, and our Twitter account, you should be a bit up to date with the fact that we started posting sketches through Tumblr not that long ago.

We are picking up the pace with these sketches, but they represent quick studies, moodsketches and will possibly also be more elaborate sketches in the future. It’s a good opportunity to see what some of our works start out as, and what we do for practice, fun and research. For example

In other news, we were approached to participate in a tribute to Stan Lee when he will have his last public appearance in Europe at the London Film and Comicon this weekend.

We will show our contribution next Tuesday, after the event, but the tribute comes in the form of a comicbook-sized artbooklet. The blurb and the cover can be found below:

EXCELSIOR: Steve Rude, Mark Buckingham, Alan Davis, Jose Delbo, Bryan Talbot, Mike Perkins, Chris Weston and Gary Frank are among the horde of artists from around the world paying tribute to Stan Lee on the occasion of his last European public appearance. Running to 68 pages in colour and black and white, Excelsior is a limited edition of 250 copies. It is available exclusively at the London Film and Comic Con, priced £10. If you can’t make it to the show, copies can be sent to you for £15 each (unsigned) or £80 (signed by Lee) within the UK. Email Mike Conroy at demigod@btconnect.com for full details, to enquire about price if you live elsewhere in the world and to obtain details of the originals that will be auctioned over the weekend as well as how to bid on them.

If you want the chance to win an illustration of your own narrative then our Ars Scribendi-competition is the place to be. We are receiving some stellar entries. The deadline is the first of August and the information can be found here: Ars Scribendi

What else?

How about a new private commission that just cleared for being viewed by the public?

This is called “Out of the Dust”

This week we have two new slots open for commissions. So if you have an idea, or want a new piece to hang on your wall, do not hesitate to contact us!

This week we present you a proud son of Caliban, this character was created by Joshua Zanello and more information can be found on the character’s wiki here.

Living in a house with at least one other Dark Angel fanatic we can say this illustration was appreciated by more than just the artists of the studio.

Our kind meceanas was quite clear in what he wanted on his illustration so not much needs to be explained.

We provided the sketch a few weeks back and looking back upon the advancements made, it never seizes to amaze us what a difference some layers of colours bring in regards to depth and life. These little moments of revelation are one of the perks of working in this business. Our customers are happy when we manage to bring their vision alive, but in all honesty: it is still a rush to see that image that is locked up in your brain, slowly starting to form on the screen or on the canvas. Living in this city, where an eclectic mix of medieval, Gothic, baroque and modern can be found everywhere, it would almost be blasphemous to not be able to do anything creative in this environment. If we need reference of some sorts, we just need to take a trip with a camera down to the city centre and we usually find what we need. So hopefully we can provide some own non-commissioned works soon, it has been a while since we posted anything like that.

On a different note: our first contributions to the Ars Scribendi contest are coming in on the blog here. The entries already look promising, we cannot wait to see what more we shall receive, after all the deadline is still more than a month away.

Today we received ill tidings from Sweden, David’s grandfather finally lost his valiant battle against multiple myeloma. This little die-hard original söderkis was one of the sweetest men I know. He left such a profound impact on our lives, our youngest son even bares his name and our grief cannot be put into words.

We would like to thank all our friends and fans for their kind words and support. Those words can make a difference when one is struggling on..

“In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien

So no elaborate post this weeks, and we do beg forgiveness if the posts the coming weeks are a tad demure. Do feel free to get inspired and join ourArs Scribendi competition here on the blog or onFacebook.

No real finished images will be posted this week. But as to not let our loyal followers be hungry, we decided to give you some idea on progress and skill-development. The first image here illustrates David’s well known “Sanguinius holding the gates” illlustration. This took almost 50 hours to complete, the Spacewolf took significant less time. It shows that even when one has developed a style of one’s own, evolution is still key.

And finally, a more detailed sketch of a piece currently in the pipeline.

We open this week with a quote from the letters of mr. Van Gogh. The past three days we have experienced some severe weather here in Belgium. Hailstones the size of golf balls, super-cell storms, and tropic heat made us take three unexpected days off. The storm that passed us Sunday night really had epic proportions and was in true Lovecraftian style, worthy of an epic battle between Elder Gods. We at least got inspired to paint some dark images, so keep an eye out the coming weeks.

However, despite epic storms, some works were completed and we can proudly present you two final pieces.

The first one is made for an alternative 40k story: Guilliman’s Heresy. The image shows a pivotal scene between the Lion, and a megalomaniac Guiliman together with already corrupted Vulcan, Sanguinius and Dorne. Both parties are interested in Terra, however the focal point here lies with dichotomies between Lion El-Johnson and Roboute Guilliman: The dark armour of the Lion ofsets the white toga of Guiliman, the bareheadedness of El-Johnson versus the halo Roboute’s throne casts. The light from above illuminating the Primarch of the Ultramarines versus the shade of the Lion, etc…

Today there aren’t going to be any pretty pictures in the blogpost, but I hope the text will bring something interesting to you anyway.

In an effort to give back (something I’m sure you have heard before from others) here at Studio Colrouphobia we looked at our past, present and future to see what has been important for us when it comes to art and working as artists.

Pretty fast I personally came to the conclusion that there are two things that have and continue to, play a major role for me when it comes to working with art.

Inspiration and Motivation.

When I was younger, I thrived on visuals. I was into movies, comics and games, just like most others. But what really got me into things, where the visual aspects.

When I imagined things, the more I could visualize things in my mind, the more vivid they would become and therefore they would inspire me to explore that imagination.

My first true introduction to Art, as means to work with, actually came from the Swedish version of D&D. The images and illustrations where probably not the best, but I remember the creatures they depicted very well (and they all look perfect in my head now!) and I also remember thinking:
“Wow, the guys doing this are my dad’s age. Nobody I know my dad’s age would do this unless they got paid for it. They get paid to draw!”

I had always drawn and sketched, just like most others, though I was hardly the one two scribble on walls and scream if no pen or paper was around. I just enjoyed sketching and put enough effort into it for people to notice.

At a certain age I just decided that this, doing Fantasy and Sci-fi art, for a living, was what I wanted to do.

From there on, things become a constant battle between being inspired and getting motivation, drive, to continue. Most people have a really hard time trying to become a freelancer at anything, regardless of what you do. The reasons are many- people not believing in you, lack of money to pursue that sort of career, lack of self-confidence and lack of believing in yourself (and no, those last two are not the same – one mean you do not believe you are good enough and the other that you do not believe you WILL be good enough).

So how do you solve this?
Well for one, you need to have support from your friends and family, something I know doesn’t always happend. I had luck enough to have my -then girlfriend, now- wife that has given me support throughout the past 10-12 years. That’s not always evident.
The other things you need are great sources of inspiration and causes for drive.

They all inspired me and gave me a drive to continue, to try to become good enough to work as an llustrator for a living. I’m sure most of you have sources for inspiration and motivation. I would love to hear who they are, perhaps we share them, or I haven’t heard of them or seen their work. I am still looking for more inspirational and motivational artists to add to my list to keep me driven to learn and improve.

Well, back in the days, I had to really look for these sources of inspiration and talking here at the studio we agreed that we should try and give back some of that inspiration.

To do that, I have asked some of my art-heroes and sources for inspiration and drive to write one-time blogposts, right here on studiocolrouphobia.net.

A lot of them are busy with their work, but some have answered an will write to give you guys some inspiration. I do not know what they will write, as I didn’t want to restrict them, but the general theme for these will be “To be inspired and driven”, and every blog-post made by a guest-blogger will be on the topic of Art.

We here at Studio Colrouphobia will post these as they come in. There is no a perfect schedule for when they will come in, but we will never post more then one a day, so if you have seen a guest-blogger post here, chanses are you wont see another update on that day.

We hope you will enjoy this little treat.

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